Yasuke | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1555[1] Portuguese Mozambique (most likely) |
Died | After June 1582 |
Allegiance | Jesuits, Alessandro Valignano Oda clan, Oda Nobunaga (1581–1582) |
Battles/wars |
Yasuke (Japanese: 弥助 / 弥介, Japanese pronunciation: [jasɯ̥ke]) was a man of African origin[3][4] who served as a samurai to the Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga for a period of appoximately 15 months between 1581 and 1582, during the Sengoku period, until Nobunaga's death in the Honnō-ji Incident.[5][6][7][8] Afterwards, Yasuke was sent back to the Jesuits.[9] There are no further records of his life.
There are few historical documents on Yasuke. From the fragmentary accounts, Yasuke first arrived in Japan in the service of Jesuit Alessandro Valignano.[10] Nobunaga summoned him out of a desire to see a black man.[10] Subsequently, Nobunaga took him into his service, gave him the name Yasuke and granted him a sword, servants, a house and a stipend.[11] Historians believe this was the equivalent to "the bestowing of warrior or 'samurai' rank" during this period.[1]
Lockley_Britannica
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).ExcludedPresence
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Hitotsubashi
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).La crónica de Ota describe al esclavo como un joven de unos veintiséis o veintisiete años, de apariencia sana, muy fuerte, con todo el cuerpo de color negro «como un buey» y con la fuerza de diez hombres. Nobunaga quedó impresionado por su apariencia, hizo que se desvistiese y les ordenó a unas criadas que frotasen su piel con toda clase de jabones, aceites y ungúentos para comprobar que ese color era natural y no alguna clase de tinte o pintura. Una vez estuvo seguro de que el portento era real, pidió a los jesuitas que el joven se quedase con él, a lo que los religiosos accedieron, regalándoselo. El nombre que se le dio fue Yasuke (h. 1555-?), y desde ese momento acompañó siempre a Nobunaga como una especie de guardaespaldas. Cabe destacar que a partir de entonces dejó de ser un esclavo, puesto que al estar al servicio del daimyo recibió un estipendio como el resto de vasallos, obteniendo así la condición de samurái.[Ota's Chronicle describes the slave as a young man of about twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, of healthy appearance, very strong, with his whole body black "like an ox" and with the strength of ten men. Nobunaga was impressed by his appearance, had him undress and commanded some servants to scrub his skin with all kinds of soaps, oils and ointments to check that this color was natural and not some kind of dye or paint. When he was sure that the color was real, he asked the Jesuits to keep the young man, to which the Jesuits agreed, giving him to him as a gift. The name given to him was Yasuke (ca. 1555-?), and from that moment on he always accompanied Nobunaga as a kind of bodyguard. It is worth noting that from that moment on he ceased to be a slave, since being in the service of the daimyo he was paid a stipend like the rest of the vassals, thus obtaining the status of samurai.]
Impressed with Yasuke's height and strength (which "surpassed that of ten men"), Nobunaga gave him a sword signifying bushi status. Yasuke served as Nobunaga's retainer and conversation partner for the last year of the warlord's life, defending Azuchi castle from the traitorous Akechi forces in 1582, where Nobunaga committed ritual suicide (seppuku). Although there are no known portraits of the "African samurai," there are some pictorial depictions of dark-skinned men (in one of which he is sumo wrestling) from the early Edo period that historians speculate could be Yasuke.
huffingtonpostyasuke
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).JapanForum
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).